VBR 9.5 - Backup individual VM's to Tape

[jazzoberoi]

Hi guys,

We've recently started using the Per-VM backup chains for our backup repository.

This allowed us to backup individual VM files to the 'Backup Copy' and we were wondering if the same was possible for 'tape backup' ?

Business case for this is that we have around 9 VM's that are getting backed up using our primary backup job (Reverse Incremental) and our backup copy job (StoreOnce 4500 in Catalyst mode) using the Per-VM file option.

We now only wish to store 3 of these VM backup files onto our LTO-6 tape (Reverse Incremental Full to Tape) without having to store all 9 vm files.

I don't want to create another Backup Job containing only these 3 VM's for simplicity's sake.

[Shestakov]

Hi Jazz,
Yes, it`s possible even in v9.
Thanks!

[jazzoberoi]

Hi Shestakov,

Really ?

How ? When i try and add jobs to Tape backup, it only lets me add from Backup Jobs or Repository. It doesnt let me select individual VM's !!

[Shestakov]

To be correct, it`s not a feature of choosing VMs in the backup to tape jobs, but the goal is feasible.
Since you have backup copy job with only desired VMs, you can choose secondary repository as a source for backup to tape job.
Another workaround is to use file to tape job and write on the tape only desired files. Is your plan to copy both full and increments to the tape?
Thanks

[jazzoberoi]

Hi Shestakov,

Thanks for your reply.

Since you have backup copy job with only desired VMs, you can choose secondary repository as a source for backup to tape job.

My Backup Copy Job copies all the VM's (9 in total), however i only need to backup 3 VM's to Tape.

Basically, i'd like to pick and choose the VM's i'd like to put to tape regardless of how many VM's are backed up using the 'Primary Backup Job' or 'Backup Copy Job'

Another workaround is to use file to tape job and write on the tape only desired files.

Will this not need to be changed everytime i run the Job, as the filename for the VBK file would change after each 'Primary backup - Reverse Incremental' run ?

Is your plan to copy both full and increments to the tape?

Full backups only, for 3 VM's.

[veremin]

Will this not need to be changed everytime i run the Job, as the filename for the VBK file would change after each 'Primary backup - Reverse Incremental' run ?

I think files mask containing names of necessary VMs and .vbk as file extension should do the trick. Thanks.

[Shestakov]

Another option is to split VMs of the source backup job into 2 jobs: 6 VMs which don`t need to be copied to the tape, and other 3 which do.
Anyways, your feature request is clear and sane, we`ve taken it into account for future releases.
Thanks!